Dolan Raises Red Sox Bid to $750 Mi

Published 8:00 pm, Sunday, January 13, 2002

Charles Dolan raised his bid for the Boston Red Sox to $750 million Monday, $90 million more than the offer the team accepted from a group headed by Florida Marlins owner John Henry.

Dolan upped his offer after Attorney General Thomas Reilly had been negotiating with the Red Sox over the weekend and with Henry on Monday.

"We are negotiating more money for the charities and some other items as well," Reilly said.

Though Dolan and New York lawyer Miles Prentice had raised their offers, Reilly said he was only negotiating with the Red Sox and with Henry's group.

The Red Sox turned down a $700 million offer from Dolan on Sunday, saying the team would stick with the $660 million bid it accepted from Henry in mid-December. Baseball owners could approve Henry's purchase of the team as early as Wednesday, when they meet in Phoenix.

According to documents signed by all bidders, offers can be made until the sale is finalized.

Dolan, the chairman of Cablevision Systems Corp., said his new offer included $490 million for the Jean R. Yawkey Trust, which owns a 53 percent controlling interest in the team, and $260 million for the limited partners.

Henry's offer would pay $409.2 million to the trust and the rest to the limited partners, according to Samuel Tamposi, one of the limited partners.

Reilly has said he's concerned charities that would benefit from the sale were shortchanged when the team accepted Henry's lower offer. Reilly and the Red Sox did not immediately respond to Dolan's new proposal.

Dolan claimed Monday that Henry's group also made a new offer. Henry's group includes former San Diego Padres owner Tom Werner, former Padres and Baltimore Orioles president Larry Lucchino and former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, all friends of Selig.

"We learned today that the Red Sox received a new bid from Mr. Henry and his group which is different from his prior bid but still, as we understand it, below our latest offer for the Boston Red Sox," Dolan said in a statement. "We are delighted that the auction process has been reopened.

"We are pleased to hear that the trust is interested in maximizing the proceeds for its interests in the Boston Red Sox.

Joe Baerlein, a Henry spokesman, denied that the group had increased its offer. "Absolutely not," he said. "Our bid was presented on Dec. 20th, it was accepted on Dec. 20th and it was reaffirmed.

"Any further last-minute maneuver to undo this deal or cause further delay comes at a serious price for the baseball team and its fans for the coming season.

"The Henry-Werner group are baseball people intent on bringing a world championship to Boston. Their interest in purchasing the Red sox is neither short-term nor predicated on business interests other than the business of baseball."

Dolan said he was "completely confident" that baseball owners would approve of his offer and sent a copy of his letter to Reilly.

The team's limited partners on Sunday declined to pursue a $700 million bid from Dolan because it was too late, and reconfirmed their Dec. 20 decision to accept Henry's bid.

Red Sox chief executive officer John Harrington said Sunday that Henry's offer had the "highest probability of closing."

A group led by Prentice had offered $750 million, but the team claimed the bid did not have secure financing.

The purchase price includes Fenway Park and a controlling 80 percent interest in the New England Sports Network cable station.